


Crooked Smile

by stendahls



Category: Smile For Me (Video Game)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pining, WHATS BETTER THAN THIS JUST TWO GUYS BEING ANGSTY, good ending, mentions of parental abuse, mild swearing, they dont smooch or anything i like to keep it subtle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-06 16:28:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20510021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stendahls/pseuds/stendahls
Summary: After the final battle with Flower Kid, Kamal steps in to make amends. (Takes place after the good ending.)





	Crooked Smile

Kamal stayed.

He knew he shouldn’t have, he should have escaped to safety, gotten a bus out of town and went to another state, far from Habit and Martha. He should have saved his own life. Or better yet, he should have saved everyone else’s. He should have been the one to go in there, not Flower Kid. He should have been brave enough to go in there and put an end to things himself.

But he wasn’t, and he didn’t.

Instead he eavesdropped, heart pounding and head spinning as he pressed his ear against the door, crying with fear as he listened to Habit explain his insane plan. He was brave enough to stay yet too cowardly to actually do anything himself. Story of his life.

There was a beat of silence, then some quiet mumbling, and then he jumped back in surprise as the doors slid open and Flower Kid emerged, seemingly okay except for a few missing teeth. They nodded politely, like always, as he gave them a small congratulatory speech and wished them well on their adventures. He waved at them as the elevator door closed, then stood in the waiting room for a long time. He pretended he didn’t know why he was staying, acted confused towards himself as to why he didn’t take off running in case Habit resumed his plans, but deep down he knew. He eventually grew tired of his own questions and begrudgingly admitted to himself that he wanted to make sure Habit was okay. After all he had done, he still cared about him.

It made him feel like an idiot.

He cursed himself as he hesitantly decided to go in there and make sure he was okay. His knees shook with fear, and every instinct screamed that walking through those doors could mean his certain death, but his love for the insane dentist drove him forward. He knocked lightly on the purple door before sliding it open and entering the room.

His heart broke as he saw Habit, sitting on the floor and sobbing into his hands. He didn’t even seem to hear him enter. 

Kamal spoke lightly as he approached the older man, “H-Hey, buddy, are you uhm, alright?” It was a stupid question to ask, and he wasn’t able to hide the way his voice shook and cracked with anxiety, although that was nothing new to him.

Habit’s head snapped up, and he quickly began to wipe away his tears, wincing slightly as one of his claws dragged across his cheek. “Hello! I’m...okay! I’m the goodest! How are you today?” He gave a tight lipped smile and stood up, but frowned when he looked down and saw the blood staining his jacket. His attempt to pretend everything was fine failed miserably. “Okay, I’m a little slightly less than goodest, if I’m honest.”

“Th-that’s alright, I understand.” He said with a nod.

Awkward silence passed between the both of them.

Kamal spoke again, “Are you, y’know...still going to kill everyone? Should I, like, leave?” There really wasn’t a delicate way to ask the question, but he still felt embarrassed at how brash he was. Subtlety had never been one of his skills.

“Can I be honest with you?” 

“Of course,” he said, “Always.”

Habit took a strand of his hair in his hand and nervously twirled it, “I wasn’t really going to kill anyone,” He looked ashamed at his own poor attempt at villainy, “I just…” He started to tear up. “I don’t know, it’s stupid talk.” He wiped his tears again. He was resolutely avoiding eye contact, which wasn’t all that hard, considering he was almost a foot taller than his former assistant. 

The shorter man felt relieved rather than surprised. He had known the doctor for years, and even when helping him build his stupid schemes, he never really thought he had the heart to follow through with them. The fear was there of course, and towards the end he really did believe that something terrible was going to happen, but it would seem he had judged his old boss correctly. He truly was a stupid softie. “It’s not stupid,” He reached out and gently placed a hand on Habit’s arm, “You can tell me.”

He placed his own hand over Kamal’s, squeezing gently as he spoke. His voice was heavy with shame, “I just wanted to make everyone feel as sad as I am. It’s not fair that I got so hurt and no one else did…” His voice cracked as more tears began to flow, “But why does getting my revenge feel the baddest? Why am I still not happy?” His grip tightened a bit in frustration, but he was careful not to hurt the other man.

Kamal sighed, his heart wrenching for his former friend. No, current friend. He knew that what he was about to say wouldn’t be easy, but it was something he desperately needed to get out, and so he lightly pulled his hand away, just in case he got angry. His mind wrestled between the comforting familiarity of the man in front of him and the unknown fear of his capabilities. Just because he hadn’t killed anyone didn’t mean he hadn’t hurt people, and if anything were going to make him lash out in anger, it would probably be hearing this. Kamal took a deep breath before he let the words flow, forcing himself to say them in a steady and determined tone, “Venting your hurt onto someone innocent doesn’t make anyone feel better. It just makes you a villain. I bet your dad felt the same as you do now.” He braced himself for the rage, for the screaming tantrum, or the unleashing of the killing device, but what he got in return was quiet acceptance.

Habit nodded, “You’re right, I knowed it.” He turned and walked over to the window, staring down at the empty carnival below. He spoke just barely above a whisper, “I used to be so scared of being like my parents, I thought I could win, like the hurt they gave me was some game to be beat,” His gaze moved towards his own bloodstained clothes, “But I just became them. So I guess I lost.”

After a long moment of deliberation, Kamal decided to throw caution to the wind. He knew habit, and villainous scheme or not, he knew the kind of help he needed. So he strode forward, pushed whatever fear he had to the back of his mind, replaced it with love on the way, and wrapped his arms around his friend in a tight hug. “You didn’t lose. You don’t have to be like this forever,” He moved his hand around until he found Habit’s and squeezed it tightly for the second time, “Do you really want to let them make you a monster?” His words were slightly muffled as his face pressed against Habit’s back.

He squeezed Kamal’s hand in return, “Thank you,” He said, his voice dripping with even more sadness than it had before, “But I am already one.”

The other man furrowed his brows, indignation swelling in his chest. He did not come all this way just to watch Habit tear himself apart. He did not spend years working at his side just to watch him become some incurable beast. He did not pour so much love into his every thought of him just to have him feel so unloved at an end of his own making. He moved his hands to Habit’s side and spun him around. Well, he was too weak to spin him, but Habit got the idea and moved on his own. He grabbed the taller man roughly by his fluffy coat collar and pulled him down to stare directly into his eyes, pressing their noses together. Kamal blushed, but this was not the time to let butterflies overtake him. The passion and anger in his gut burned them to a crisp. “You are not a monster if you don’t want to be!” He yelled. Habit winced and pulled back, but Kamal kept a firm grip on him. “If you don’t want to be your parents then don’t fucking be them!”

Habit sputtered for a moment, unsure how to respond to the sudden onslaught of encouragement, but he eventually settled for asking “Do you really think I’m have a second chance?”

Kamal would have sighed in frustration had they not been so close, “Of fucking course you do! I can’t guarantee everyone will forgive you but-” He paused for a moment, suddenly feeling bashful at how emotional he had become, “But I forgive you, and I’m here for you. I always have been.”

More tears spilled from the doctor’s eyes as he pulled Kamal into a tight hug. “I’m sorry,” he said, and then he repeated it, over and over, until his voice was almost hoarse. “I’m sorry I pushed you away, I didn’t want you to see me becoming bad, I didn’t want you to be hurt from it, I didn’t want you to try to stop me, I-” He was cut off as Kamal pulled back and gently shushed him with a finger to his mouth.

“I don’t care.”

“I’m still sorry.”

“I said I don’t care. I forgive you.”

“What can I do to make it better?”

“Well,” Kamal thought for a moment, before perking up as a wonderful idea came to him, “take your own advice.”

“And that is?”

“Start with a smile.”

Habit smiled. A genuine, unashamed smile, tinged with sadness and relief and all the other bittersweet emotions that were swirling in his chest. Kamal felt the butterflies finally break free to flutter inside him as he returned the sentiment. He had missed a lot about Habit, he had missed their friendship, their budding romance, and their inside jokes, among many other things. 

But most of all he had missed that beautiful crooked smile.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first SFM fanfiction so I hope it's alright! Thank you very much for reading :o)


End file.
